Boom. Done.

So the ending. We can talk about the ending. Which I liked. But first the “So what was with the..”s. Cuz there’s always those.

What was with old Dandelion? We never met old Dandelion, did we? This game had some issues with frame of reference. Who was telling it? Why? Why did we need old Dandelion? Why was Geralt the one narrating the weird cartoony bits if old Dandelion was telling the story? My only guess is that they were staying too loyal to the books. This isn’t a book, people.

What was with Ciri’s tattoo? Who was that for? Why was that there?

And what two little memories did YOU get right before she went into the light? I got hitting someone at Skall’s grave and the snowball fight you didn’t have. Why those?

But guess what? Guess where Geralt wound up?

“Geralt of Rivia put down roots.” Yup. I wound up in a nice house with Triss. I took contracts from time to time, more out of habit than need, as Triss made a fortune advising in Korvir. We had a house that was always open to guests and that “always smelled like fresh baked cakes.” Cakes. I even got a weird cartoony picture of Triss in said lovely house in a flimsy nightie.

Hot sorceress, nice house, cakes. IT WORKED OUT!

I’m stunned.

Feminina:

OH. MY. GOD. It worked out?! You actually wound up in a cute house with Triss?! With CAKES?!

That’s awesome, dude. I’m happy for you. Stunned, but happy. Nice.

Old Dandelion…I don’t know. What the hell WAS up with that? Ciri’s tattoo…I don’t know. Maybe it meant something that they had to cut out because the game was already 800 hours long? Loose ends, a bit.

But what do you mean I didn’t have a snowball fight? I had the snowball fight. I don’t THINK I punched a guy at Skall’s grave, though? Did I? I mean, I kind of yelled at those people, maybe I absentmindedly punched one too, out of habit.

I think my memory sequence there did include the snowball fight, and there was something else, but I don’t remember what. I don’t think it was punching. I was kind of too worked up at that point with “and then what and then what and then what?????!!!!”

As for what those memories mean…I read about this, and apparently there are five sort of key decision points in the story with Ciri, where you can encourage her to do one thing or another thing (like, calm down or trash the elf’s lab!). The snowball fight was one of those points…after the battle of Kaer Morhen, you either have a snowball fight to cheer her up, or you say something philosophical like “there was nothing you could have done” or something. So from a plot standpoint, seemingly fairly minor branch points, but there are specific ‘better’ and ‘worse’ choices in terms of supporting Ciri in her claiming power/coming-of-age journey, and if you get more better than worse, she lives and comes out of the light after saving the world. If you get more worse than better, she dies.

In my world, she survived, but she renounced her royal blood, I (and the sorceresses and everyone, I assume) told the emperor she was dead, and the end of the game was me having an awesome sword crafted for her, and her and me being witchers together.

So my romance sucked, but that part was nice. Somebody can still stand me.

Butch:

It did, dude. It worked out.

You google old Dandelion. As for the narrator, I really think it was a remnant of being a slave to the books. I haven’t read the books, but certainly they took the book bit seriously. I mean, even in interviews, these guys were always giving shout outs to the books. Maybe they were going for a “book” vibe. That didn’t work. AND Geralt narrated all the storybook bits (for lack of a better way to refer to the odd, intrusive cartoons) EXCEPT the last ending bits. This game couldn’t decide who was telling the story. They’d’ve been better off axing all of that.

My other memory was Ciri punching a dude. Which was an odd thing to remember just before you save the world.

And wait, what? She can die? No way. That….sorta sucks….cuz that makes it far less likely that she stars in the inevitable (I hope) sequel. I figured when she became a witcher, that was doing what CDPR does in terms of leaving wide, gaping castle gates open to sequels.

But after the whole Ciri goes into the thing thing, I told the emperor she was dead (cuz I kinda believed she WAS), told her A’Vallach was gone (which ALSO seemed to say SEQUEL to me), and then got a sword, met her at the place in White Orchard where it began (cool) and she ended by saying “Let’s try it out.”

(As an aside, cool though that when the title of the game came on after that it was in Polish.)

I didn’t get her renouncing stuff per se. She did ask “Did he [the emperor] believe you [that I was dead]?” to which Geralt replied “I have no idea.” Ciri DID go off to become a witcher. It said “Geralt taught her everything he knew, and soon the deeds of the ashen haired witcheress spread far and wide,” and got a picture of her witchering, being badassed, saving people etc. Now, let’s not ask how the Emperor didn’t then put two and two together and say “Hey…..wait….ashen haired witcheress….maybe……” So she went off and did that while I ran off with Triss. But I didn’t get her saying “Well, fuck ’em all.”

Was also nice that Skellege turned out ok.

Overall, gotta say happier ending than I thought. I’m gonna believe that Ciri dying was something you just had to be a complete bonehead to get. I mean, like Shepard dying at the end of ME2. Possible, but you had to think “How can I actively fuck up every single possible decision?”

So the one line that stands out for me in the whole endgame: Ciri wants to go into the thing and save the world, right? So I had Geralt saying “Don’t. You don’t have to, don’t do this to me,” etc. and she says stuff that includes “This has always been my story, not yours.” Verbatim quote.

Which made me say….Hmmm.

Coming of age story after all that? Her saying that, ending with her choice, and, if you didn’t fuck up, a final image of HER holding a sword saying “Let’s try it out.”

Whatchu think?

Feminina:

Yeah, apparently she can die. Which I never wanted to mention because spoiler, but it does cast some doubt on whether she’ll play a major role in a sequel. Unless they do a “if you play this game and she died in your TW3…um…just pretend that didn’t happen” thing, which…continuity issues. As for your other speculation, she could still be in Cyberpunk, I guess, since it could take place technically before the ending of TW3, while she’s gallivanting about between the spheres.

And I didn’t actually SEE her renouncing her royal blood, I think my ending there was basically the same as yours…I just assumed she did it and that’s why everyone agreed to tell the emperor she was dead. Given that she’s come into her power and all that, didn’t seem like the kind of thing I would have just gone and done (and everyone else would, by implication, have gone along with) unless she said it was what she wanted.

And yeah, I was glad Skellige did well under Cerys…wonder how Hjalmar would have worked out, with his more warlike attitudes? We shall never know. Unless we look it up.

Butch:

True, she does tell Geralt that she was in the “future” world in the past, before this game happened.

Continuity be damned. Shep could die in ME2, and he was GOING to be in ME3. I mean, there’s gotta be SOMETHING. I find it highly unlikely that with the financial and critical success of this game that there WON’T be a Witcher 4 someday, and if it has no one from the first three the masses will be cheesed. Ciri just seems the obvious choice. We shall see. CDPR says they aren’t working on four now, it’s all Cyberpunk. I don’t believe them.

If she had wound up Empress, I wouldn’t have bought it. This ending I get. And it encourages sequel.

As for looking it up, meh. I think I’m gonna leave it be.

On that, I ALMOST went back in. See, the only gold trophy I can possibly get from this game (cuz I ain’t replaying it on Death March) is “reach character level 35.” I am 93 XP from that trophy. I COULD go kill that archgriffon and get it. BUT the last time I went back into a game to trophy hunt was TR, and thus the last memory I have of that otherwise wonderful game is wandering around a beach looking for wild pigs to shoot. I do not want my last memory of this game to be wandering around mucking for XP. So I loaned it to a friend and figure I’ll be deep into FO4 before I get the urge.

Feminina:

You might not get 93 points killing the archgriffin anyway. I think I got 39? So you’d wind up scrounging for XP 3 and 4 at a time…like you say, do you really want that to be your takeaway? I think you’re right. Move on. Trophies aren’t worth it. Did it give you one for Blood and Broken Bones, or did it get you for sometimes turning it down?

And now on to the next game!

Butch:

Damn, that few? Ah, well. Some things just have to go uncollected. At least I got the silver for Eredin.

By the way, did you notice Geralt gave Eredin a scar over his left eye? That matched BOTH Geralt and Ciri?

I did not get the trophy for Blood and Broken Bones, only the bronze for “Complete the game on any difficulty.” Robbed. I was robbed. I want a recount.

Yeah, I might decompress some. Maybe I’ll try to get a nice indie in before FO4. It’s not going anywhere, and I have Unfinished Swan and Broken Age sitting there. Maybe do one of those.

Feminina:

Unfinished Swan is nice and quick, and safe to play with the kids nearby. I downloaded Broken Age, but haven’t played it, so I can’t speak to that.

Butch:

Broken Age got good reviews. But I can’t do long. Quick seems to fit the bill, what with plans and all.

Feminina:

Long is definitely not going to work at this point. Go with Unfinished Swan. It’ll tide you over nicely, and clear the palate between one interminable battlefest and the next.

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About Feminina O'Ladybrain

As a woman, Feminina O'Ladybrain loves skimpy armor, the Smurfette Principle, and being rescued. She also enjoys setting things on fire, and is unusually fond of shotguns.
She likes lady games, such as 'Lady: The Game,' but since that doesn't exist, she plays a lot of series, like 'Dragon Age,' 'Mass Effect,' and 'Assassin's Creed.'